For the previous few months, Usman and Masvidal gave the impression to be on a collision course with White initially teasing that matchup for Worldwide Battle Week in July.

Whereas the timing might have modified because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, which pressured the UFC to radically reschedule their calendar, it nonetheless appeared that battle was a lock to occur later this yr.

Now the UFC may be discussing another choice for the primary and solely “BMF” champion.

“We’re speaking about a couple of various things,” White informed ESPN when requested about Usman vs. Masvidal. “We have now one thing else attention-grabbing for Masvidal that we have been simply speaking about yesterday. We’ll see. We’ll see how this entire factor performs out.

“To start out speculating down the street now could be too quickly. Let’s get by these three fights in Florida after which we’ll work out what’s subsequent. We’re speaking about completely different potentialities with these guys.”

In response to sources near Masvidal when chatting with MMA Combating on Friday, no discussions have taken place a couple of completely different opponent but however clearly White mentioned this concept simply popped up lately throughout inside discussions.

Following his win over Nate Diaz this previous November, Masvidal first focused Conor McGregor as his subsequent opponent however he then moved on from that matchup to place his full consideration on Usman and the welterweight title.

Usman and Masvidal each tried to leap right into a short-notice battle towards one another again in April however all the occasion was later scrapped. The welterweights have been engaged in a heated back-and-forth disagreement for a number of months together with an altercation throughout media day forward of the Tremendous Bowl in January.

Right now, nothing has been determined but it surely seems the UFC is at the least contemplating alternate opponents for Usman and Masvidal quite than matching them up in a welterweight title battle.